wrestlingscout's media reviews. From books and documentaries to shoot interviews and matches, I'll review the best (and sometimes the worst) that pro-wrestling has to offer.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Jim Duggan [Straight Shootin' Interview]

The Good
"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan is one of pro-wrestling's great acquired tastes. I had a cousin who absolutely loved him. I know a lot of "smart marks" cannot stand him. While he was not my favorite later in his WWF run, his Mid-South stuff is wildly entertaining and his later days in WCW were great in their own way. His character is definitely an extension of his real-life personality and that comes across strongly here. I cannot remember another shoot interview (and they're often conducted in the wee hours of the morning) where they had so many problems with disturbing others due to noise. I guess if you have someone yelling "Hooooo" and chanting "U-S-A!" at regular intervals, you'll have issues with the neighbors. Aside from all that, Duggan is very honest and is willing to talk about most everything, including the infamous New Jersey arrest with the Iron Sheik and considering others (Ken Patera, Jimmy Snuka and Chris Adams) were not willing to dig the skeletons out of their closets. I found Duggan to be both frank in his comments and funny in his delivery, so this was a difficult interview not to enjoy.

The Bad
As much as I enjoyed Hacksaw's over-the-top personality and its presence in this interview, I am sure some people would not. I would rather have that and get some extra goofiness than the bland deliveries I've heard out of charisma kingpin Jimmy Valiant. Duggan has had such a full career and has enjoyed some booze and gimmicks along the way, so he seems to be missing memories of many high points of his career (according to fans, his personal high points he remembers). My only complaint is that Duggan seems kind of bitter toward how the business changed during the Monday Night Wars and how a cartoon character like himself was simply cut out of the spotlight. It is funny because if you pulled him out of 1987 and stuck him in there, he could have been a hot commodity, but after nearly a decade of being a goof, he just could not offer much past a nostalgia act. Therefore, he seems angry at the smaller workers (Lance Storm, Dean Malenko and others), annoyed with the youngsters who need gimmicks (Buff Bagwell, Van Hammer, etc.) and upset with the management that took to an edgier style.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Ted DiBiase [RF Video Shoot Interview]

The Good
I have heard Ted DiBiase interviewed so many times and that I'm almost uninterested in him, not to mention his two autobiographies and WWE documentary. He is well-spoken and thoughtful as you'd hope an ordained minister and public speaker to be. This is an early RF Video shoot, conducting in a bank where Mrs. DiBiase works and it is full of crops and cuts (unlike many RF shoots). While I balk at Feinstein's lack of knowledge of history, he followed Mid-South/UWF as a child as well as the WWF, so he has a good grasp of the personalities that DiBiase came into contact with. Never one to be overly political or reserved in his comments, DiBiase is very honest and that boosts the quality of this. He can say that Bill Watts was a "bully," that Robert Fuller was a poor booker or that Michael Hayes was "stiff" and he does not come across as angry or bitter. I often find RF Video shoots with nice guys who like everybody or non-storytellers to be boring, but Ted DiBiase can talk and talk. If you've never heard him before, this is definitely a must-see and if you've seen/heard him a few times or even a bazillion times, I'd still highly recommend this one. A major reason being that since he and his sons began working for the WWE, he's never been as objective and opinionated about the company…go figure.

The Bad
Ted DiBiase had such a full and successful career that he could literally spend hour after hour talking about his career and never run out of fresh stories, recollections and insight. Unfortunately, his faith (which spreading the Gospel is central tenant) often cuts into any interview he does. While it is important to him now and where he is in his life, few (if any) pursue his shoot interviews for religious purposes. That is often a factor in the shoots of Born-Agains and sometimes it is a bit much and I would say it is about what I expected here. The other factor that colored his two shoots with 57Talk was his time spent as an agent and his sons' employment in the WWE, which led him to really put over the company and prevented him from spending too much time looking back at his early career in Mid-South and Georgia. That was not an issue here, so this shoot was really better than many interviews he has given as of the past few years. What jumped out at me was hearing Ted DiBiase (the conservative Christian) railing against the WWF and the Attitude Era and later hearing Ted DiBiase (the fiscal conservative) railing against regulations on businesses and what he perceives as socialism. I'd rather not get into the inconsistencies I found because if I picked apart political, social and economic statements by pro-wrestlers in their shoots, I'd waste too much time.